Family Capital: The Key to Entrepreneurial and Family Success

2 Family Capital: The Key to Entrepreneurial and Family Success W. Gibb Dyer Over my 36-year academic and consulting career, I’ve spent most of my time studying and helping family-owned businesses. From my experience, one thing is abundantly clear: families often provide the key resources that entrepreneurs need to launch a successful business. I call these resources “family capital”: the human, social, financial, and other resources that are available to individuals or groups as a result of family affiliation. “Family human capital” consists of the skills, knowledge, and labor of family members; “family social capital” refers to the social connections and reputation shared by family members, and “family financial capital” encompasses a family’s financial and other tangible assets. In many instances a business couldn’t be founded or succeed without family capital. For example, one of my early family business clients was General Growth Properties (today, Brookfield Properties), founded by Martin and Matthew Bucksbaum. These two brothers were joined at the hip as they started their real estate empire in the 1950s. Martin had great vision regarding various commercial real estate projects while Matthew was more adept at running the day-to-day operations of the business. Together, they made a formidable team as they turned their shopping malls into a multi-billiondollar business. In the case of Bill Gates, he likely wouldn’t have been able to W. G. Dyer (*) Marriott School of Business, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. R. Allen, W. B. Gartner (eds.), Family Entrepreneurship, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66846-4_2 7 8 W. G. Dyer get his Microsoft software into IBM computers were it not for his mother’s social capital—a close social connection with IBM Chairman John Opel (they served on a nonprofit board together). Bill’s mother Mary introduced the two, and, as they say, the rest is history. Family financial capital played a significant role in the founding of Wal-Mart. Sam Walton’s wealthy father-in-law provided him with significant seed money to launch Wal-Mart, which has grown to sales of over $500 billion and over 2.2 million employees worldwide. One might argue that these three companies wouldn’t have been as successful if it weren’t for the family capital provided to these firms’ founders. In this chapter I will present a model of family capital which I’ve found useful to understanding how family capital affects families and business performance.1 The model helps us understand why family capital is so important and why, in the United States and many other countries, it is declining at an alarming rate—the result being less entrepreneurial activity since potential entrepreneurs have fewer familial resources to draw upon. The two factors that have a tremendous impact on the formation of family capital are (1) the stability of family relationships and (2) the size of the family kinship network. Stable relationships allow trust and norms of reciprocity to develop in a family which encourages the sharing of family resources. Larger families also provide more opportunities to reach out to family members with resources. Today, family structures are more varied than they have been in the past. In general, families are smaller and less stable. Some families have a structure that’s labeled the “nuclear” or “traditional” family: a married father and mother with children. Just under 50% of all families in the United States are nuclear families but this familial pattern has declined in recent years (Blackwell, 2010). Today, we see more “blended” families (8.7%) as a result of divorce and remarriage, families led by cohabiting partners (3.1%), families led by a single parent (generally a woman) (16.3%), multi-generational families (19%), and families headed by same-sex couples (1%). Moreover, this pattern of family formation, with families becoming smaller and less stable, is becoming more common throughout the world. 1 For more details and the citations for the various statistics, see: Dyer, W. G. The Family Edge: How your biggest competitive advantage in business isn’t what you’ve been taught—It’s your family (Sanger, CA: Familius, 2019). 2 Family Capital: The Key to Entrepreneurial and Family Success 9 Model of Family Capital In Fig. 2.1 is the model showing the factors that influence family capital as well as its outcomes. At the bottom of the model are those societal and individual attitudes toward marriage, child-bearing, divorce, cohabitation, and out-of-wedlock births that have a direct impact on family structure. Family structure provides the scaffolding upon which family capital is built and has the most significant impact on family capital. However, other factors in the model such as “family culture,” “family activities,” “family trust,” and Model of Family Capital Family Capital Outcomes: ● Business Start-up Success ● Family Well-being ● Individual Happiness and Well-being Family Activities Family Capital ● Human ● Social ● Financial and other assets Family Culture Family Structure Societal and Individual Attitudes Toward: ● ● ● ● ● Marriage Child-bearing Divorce Cohabitation Out-of-wedlock births Fig. 2.1 Model of family capital Family Trust Family Capital Transfer Activities 10 W. G. Dyer “family capital transfer activities” also are important to develop family resources. Finally, the major outcomes of family capital are (1) business start-up success, (2) family well-being, and (3) individual happiness and wellbeing. I’ll discuss each of these factors in turn. Family Structure Family structure has a significant impact on family size and stability. In general, marriage supports stable family relationships and birth rates increase family size. Divorce, cohabitation, and single-parenthood tend to have a negative impact on family stability and often family size. Some of the trends in the United States along these five dimensions are as follows: • Marriage rates are at historic lows in the United States. In previous generations, marriage was deemed by almost everyone to be a primary goal in life. Now, one in seven adult Americans says they never want to get married. • Birth rates are nearing all-time lows (1.7 per woman)—not even high enough to replace the population. • Slightly less than one-half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. The divorce rate in the 1960s was about half that, around 25%. • There has been a significant increase in cohabitation in the United States since 1960. Cohabiting relationships tend to be more unstable than marriage relationships which can have a negative impact on both partners and children. • Forty-one percent of American children are born out-of-wedlock today (versus about 5% in 1960). The net effects of these trends are as follows: (1) fewer people are willing to marry and create a family unit; (2) families are smaller; and (3) families are less stable, with many children growing up in a home with only one parent (thus often having access to only one parent’s resources). In other countries, I found similar trends. For example: • There are approximately 100 million fewer women than men in Asia—primarily due to selective abortions and female infanticide. Thus, many Asian men will find it difficult, if not impossible, to find mates, get married, and have children. 2 Family Capital: The Key to Entrepreneurial and Family Success 11 • At its current birth rate, the Japanese will disappear from the earth by the year 2500. This is true in many other countries as well (e.g., Korea and Singapore). • Some countries, such as Columbia (84%) and Iceland (66%), have extremely high out-of-wedlock birth rates. • The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Africa has left many African children orphans who will grow up without parental guidance and support. In Swaziland, about one-fifth of all children are orphaned, primarily due to HIV/AIDS which afflicts 31% of Swazis. • Some countries, such as Russia, have divorce rates over 50%. These data suggest that families will be smaller and less stable in the future, likely leading to less family capital available to family members. We may be already seeing some of the effects of these trends in the United States. If family capital is in decline, then we should be seeing fewer start-ups. Data from the United States show this to be true. Start-ups in the United States have declined about 20% over the past decade or so. There were a little over 500,000 startups per year 15 years ago, but only 414,000 in 2015 (Samuelson, 2017). Moreover, millennials (those between the ages of 20 and 34) are much less likely to start new businesses than previous generations (Harrison, 2015). This trend is certainly troublesome for the American economy. Family Culture I have found that the culture of one’s family also has an impact on family capital since it defines the rules for how family members relate to one another and their environment. In general, “family culture” can be defined as socially acquired and share rules of conduct that are manifested in a family’s artifacts, perspectives, values, and assumptions (Dyer, 1986). Let’s break this definition down into its various components. Artifacts are the overt manifestations of family rules. There are physical artifacts—one’s dress, the state of the rooms in home, implements used for work or school, and so on; verbal artifacts—the language and stories shared by a family; and behavioral artifacts—the rituals and common behavior patterns used by a family. Artifacts are the tangible aspects of culture—things that we can hear, see, or touch and are manifestations of a family’s rules of conduct. Cultural perspectives are situation-specific rules of conduct followed by family members. For example, in a specific situation like greeting someone in 12 W. G. Dyer Japan the appropriate behavior is to bow. In the United States and most of the Western world we shake hands. In the context of a family, perspectives are the situation-specific rules for dealing with things like greeting family members, deciding rules like curfews, or showing physical affection in public. In my home, my father used to kiss his children (even the boys) on the lips before leaving on a trip—that was deemed appropriate behavior in the Dyer household in that situation. We assumed this tradition came from my grandfather who was born in Wales. Cultural values are more general, trans-situational rules that are reflected in cultural perspectives and artifacts. For example, some homes have numerous rules about doing chores and helping family members with various tasks to keep the home clean and repaired. These rules in a family could be summarized in a value that might be labeled “we are obligated to help maintain our home.” Other values that I’ve seen in families that I’ve consulted with include, “respect for one’s elders,” “honesty in all one’s dealings,” and “hard work is expected.” These values are often articulated by members of the family and the family attempts to have these values serve as guides to their actions. The most fundamental aspects of culture are what we call basic assumptions. These are the basic beliefs that underlie the artifacts, perspectives, and values of the family. These assumptions are the basic premises, often unspoken and generally invisible, that “account for” the more overt aspects of culture. Previous studies of cultural assumptions have suggested several categories that are common to many groups; I’ve found the following categories of assumptions particularly applicable to families and their ability to develop and transfer family capital (Dyer, 1986). These categories include: Assumptions About Human Nature: Are family members basically good, basically evil, or neither? In other words, can they be trusted? Assumptions About Relationships: Are family relationships assumed to be hierarchical (someone is always above someone else in the pecking order), are relationships “collateral” (more or less equal in nature), or are relationships individualistic in nature (it’s everyone for themselves—self-interest is dominant)? Assumptions About the Environment: Do we assume that the environment— the physical and social world we live in—can be tamed and shaped by us, do we assume that we are victims of a world that we can’t change, or are we supposed to “harmonize”—be one—with our environment? Assumptions About Truth: Do we learn “truth” from external authority figures (typically father or mother) or do we gain knowledge and truth through personal investigation and testing? 2 Family Capital: The Key to Entrepreneurial and Family Success 13 Assumptions About the Nature of Human Activity: Do we assume that family members are valuable for what they can do for us or do we see them as individuals with unlimited potential that need to be developed in their own right? Assumptions About Time: Should we be primarily focused on following the past, living in the present, or preparing for the future? From my review of the literature and my own consulting practice with family firms I find that families that develop family capital have a culture based on the following assumptions: (1) we trust one another; (2) children should move from a dependent relationship with parents to an interdependent one over time; (3) the family should be proactive in trying to adapt to and change its environment for the betterment of family members; (4) children initially learn from parents, but over time it’s assumed that they’ll come up with their own answers to important questions; (5) the role of the family is to help family members reach their full potential; and (6) our family values our heritage but recognizes when it needs to change to adapt to future needs. On the other hand, I have found that families with assumptions that reflect distrust, exploitation, or abuse of family members, authoritarian leadership, and an unwillingness to change or explore new avenues to improve family functioning have great difficulty developing and sustaining family capital. Family Activities Families can also strengthen family capital through the following activities: (1) family identity activities; (2) family rituals and traditions; (3) demonstrating commitment to family; (4) coping with crises; and (5) “spiritual wellness.” These characteristics create stability within families that allow family capital to grow. Families that have significant family capital tend to have their individual and family identities inextricably connected. This may play out by a family creating a family mission or values statement. One such family is Stephen Covey’s family. Steve Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, was a member of the organizational behavior department at Brigham Young University when I was a student there, and I had the opportunity to serve as his teaching assistant for one semester. He also attended one of my family business workshops since he had family members working in his consulting firm. One of the things that Steve did to strengthen his family 14 W. G. Dyer identity was to create a family mission statement. Steve wrote the following about family mission statements: Write a family mission statement—identify what kind of family you want to be. For instance, what qualities define your family, what kinds of feeling do you want in your home, how do you want to build relationships? Get everyone involved in these questions and write something that describes your family and how you want to be. (www.stephencovey.com/ blog/?tag=family-mission-statement) Mission statements or other actions that demonstrate “who we are” as a family tend to create stronger bonds where family capital can be shared and developed. Family rituals and traditions also play a significant role in creating familial bonds that strengthen family capital and contribute to developing a distinct family identity. In my own family there are the rituals and traditions that we have developed over time. Here are a few of them: 1. Vacations to the beach in Oregon to go crabbing and clamming. 2. Vacations to Cedar City, Utah to see Shakespeare’s plays and go fishing. 3. Having a special Christmas day breakfast of finnan haddie (smoked cod) and “Robbs” (scones named after the Robb family). 4. Visiting our ancestors’ graves on Memorial Day. 5. Taking a family picture on Dyer Street in Lake Oswego, Oregon under the street sign. (This is the street where my grandfather supposedly lived while growing up.) These traditions represent a mix of traditions from both my family and my wife’s family. These traditions are highly anticipated by family members and are fondly remembered in stories often told within the family. As I have reviewed the patterns of the families that I’ve consulted with who have been able to develop family capital, they tend to emphasize the importance of spending time with family members and demonstrating commitment to the family. Since most of my clients are entrepreneurs, this isn’t easy given the pressures they feel to achieve in business as well as meet the needs of their families. For many years, surveys of entrepreneurs have noted their hectic work schedules. For example, one early study by Boyd and Gumpert (1983) found that 70% of those entrepreneurs who had been in business between six and ten years worked evenings while 58% of those in business for ten or more years were frequently gone at night. A seminal study of 3000 families conducted by Stinnett and DeFrain noted that “commitment to family” was 2 Family Capital: The Key to Entrepreneurial and Family Success 15 the first “secret” of a strong family (Stinnett & DeFrain, 1985). They tell the story of one man who was saved as a child when his mother dove in front of an automobile and pushed him out of the way. Such an act clearly reflected the mother’s love and commitment to her child and left an indelible impression on the son. While such heroic acts are compelling, simpler acts such as taking time for family vacations, going to the park, attending children’s sporting or cultural activities, and having regular family dinners demonstrate the commitment that family members have for each other. “Strong families” also have the ability to help one another during a crisis. In my own family we had a major crisis after my daughter Emily and her husband Burke adopted a baby girl who they named Evelyn. Three months after her birth she was rushed by ambulance to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City with what was thought to be a serious infection. After a series of tests it was determined that Evelyn had a condition called Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). HLH is a very rare condition caused by one’s immune system running wild, generating lymphocytes and macrophages that produce high amounts of inflammatory cytokines, which then damage vital organs. Without treatment, it is invariably fatal. The only cure for Evelyn would be chemotherapy followed by a bone marrow transplant. For the next year, from February 2009 until the spring of 2010, Evelyn was in and out of the hospital (mostly in) and one of her parents stayed with her the entire time. Family members, particularly my wife Theresa, would periodically go to the hospital to tend Evelyn and give Emily or Burke a well-deserved break. After enduring chemotherapy and finding a matching bone marrow donor in Germany, Evelyn experienced a successful transplant. Without the expertise of those doctors and nurses, Evelyn would not have survived, but the social support given by the family to Evelyn and her parents was as important, if not more important, in helping the family cope with this crisis. Evelyn is now a healthy and happy 12-year-old. One final characteristic of families that develop and share family capital is what Stinnett and DeFrain call “spiritual wellness,” which means the family is engaged in achieving a purpose that transcends the fact that family members are merely living together as a biological or economic unit. They write: “[spiritual wellness is] a unifying force, a caring center within each person that promotes sharing, love, and a compassion for others. It is a force that helps a person transcend self and become part of something larger” (Stinnett and DeFrain, p. 101). In some families this means the family is committed to following the values espoused by their religion. It means living a life consistent with one’s religious values and typically involves some sort of service to others—particularly those in need. However, families that are not religiously 16 W. G. Dyer inclined can also achieve spiritual wellness. I have seen families with little or no religious affiliation sponsor relief activities for the poor in developing countries or service projects in their local community. It’s an interesting paradox that I see in families with strong identities: they strengthen their own family by going outside the family to help and support others. The key to developing this higher purpose is for the family to clearly identify how its members, as representatives of the family, can contribute to society in a meaningful way. This might be done through discussions within the family at a “family council” or developing a family mission statement that articulates the family’s beliefs and values as they relate to service and achieving a higher purpose in life. Again, the notion that a family has a higher purpose in life generates commitment on the part of family members to each other and encourages them to cooperate and help each other to achieve the family’s goals. This serves as a powerful force in generating family capital. Family Trust To build and share family capital requires family members to have a certain amount of trust. We can define trust as “a psychological state comprising the intention to accept vulnerability based on positive expectations of the intentions or behavior of another” (Kim, Dirks, & Cooper, 2009, p. 401). In other words, we agree to be vulnerable in some way based on our belief that we will benefit by our relationship to a person, a group, or an institution. Furthermore, there are primarily three “types” of trust that are part of trust dynamics in families. These are: • Interpersonal Trust: Interpersonal trust is based on one’s relationship with another person and is primarily based on one’s history with that person. To the extent that another person has proven to be predictable and behaves reliably in certain situations, they are deemed to be trustworthy. • Competence Trust: Competence trust is based on the skills, abilities, and experience of the other party. If we believe the other person has the necessary expertise to help us with a particular concern or problem, we “trust” his or her judgment and advice. One’s status in the family, academic degrees, certifications, reputation, and so on are often the way we “know” that someone can be trusted. We trust that our credentialed doctors know what they are doing when they treat us. • Institutional Trust: Institutional trust is based on whether we see “the family,” “the system,” “the rules,” or “the processes” as being fair and trustwor- 2 Family Capital: The Key to Entrepreneurial and Family Success 17 thy. Family members want to know if they will have a place to stay, food to eat, and receive social support. They also want to know if they can air their grievances when not treated fairly in the family and receive a fair hearing in order to solve their problems. My role as a consultant to families who want to strengthen family capital often involves the repairing of these three types of trust. To do so, I typically encourage my clients to take the following approaches: Repairing Interpersonal Trust The steps to repairing interpersonal trust are as follows: 1. Confession. Does the person admit his or her mistake and ask for forgiveness? 2. Remorse. Is the offender truly sorry for what happened? 3. Restitution. Can the person “make up” for what was lost due to the violation of trust? 4. Avoid repeating the offense. To the extent that there are repeated violations of trust, it will be more difficult for trust to be restored. 5. Willingness on the part of the person offended to extend forgiveness. Repairing Competence Trust Repairing competence trust in a family may involve one or more of the following activities: • Support schooling or other types of training to improve a family member’s skills and abilities. • Encourage honest, open, and supportive feedback within the family to help family members recognize their weaknesses and develop plans to improve. • Develop fair and consistent disciplinary procedures to deal with family members who violate expectations in the family and provide support for family members to repair the trust that was lost. • Require credentials certifying competence. 18 W. G. Dyer Repairing Institutional Trust Repairing institutional trust—trust in “the family”—generally requires creating systems and processes that allow for transparency in the family. The following are just some of the activities that can help to repair institutional trust: • Clarify and share the details regarding what will happen when one or both parents die. Sharing one’s will with children (when they reach an appropriate age) can build feelings of trust and confidence between the parent and child. • Share pertinent financial information regarding family assets with family members on a regular basis. In my case, my wife Theresa and I periodically meet with our children and their spouses to review our will and to discuss our financial condition. We do this to make sure there will be no significant surprises for them when we pass away. • Ensure that the processes for making important decisions are transparent (e.g., activities such as vacations or important purchases that would affect the family). Family Capital Transfer Activities The final variable in the family capital model concerns family capital transfer activities. If families don’t create processes to transfer family capital to the next generation, it may be lost or severely compromised. The steps to making this transfer begin by having the family answer the following questions: 1. What kinds of family capital (human, social, financial) will be helpful to future generations of family members? 2. What family capital do we currently have that needs to be transferred to the next generation or other family members? 3. Who has access to this family capital, or if we don’t have the family capital that is needed, how do we develop it so it can benefit future generations? Hopefully family leaders are aware enough to think about these questions as they begin the process of transferring family capital. However, my own experience as a consultant and my review of the literature on succession planning suggest that most company founders (and their families) are illprepared for succession. Thus, to facilitate the process of transferring all three types of family capital, I have found it useful for families to do the following: 2 Family Capital: The Key to Entrepreneurial and Family Success 19 1. Initially, create a genogram of one’s nuclear and extended family, and 2. Create a “family capital genogram” that identifies who in the family needs family capital, 3. Develop a plan to improve relationships between those who have family capital and those who need it, and 4. Develop specific plans to transfer family capital from one person to another typically by using a “learning by doing” approach. The “learning by doing” approach involves giving potential heirs experiences and holding them accountable to help them prepare for future responsibilities and to develop the skills, knowledge, and relationships needed to carry on the family legacy. The Outcomes of Family Capital At the top of the model in Fig. 2.1 are listed the outcomes of family capital. Many studies have indicated that those individuals who have access to family capital start more businesses and those businesses are more successful than those who don’t have family capital to draw upon. In a recent study I conducted with my research team, we used data from over 8000 teenagers to examine their access to family capital and whether that access influenced them to start businesses later in life (Dyer, 2019). The data showed that those youths who had access to family capital: (1) started more businesses, (2) their businesses had greater longevity, and (3) their businesses had significantly higher profits than those youths who had less family capital. Moreover, I have found, as have other family scholars, that families and their members who have family capital experience the following benefits: • • • • More resilience in dealing with life’s challenges. A greater sense of well-being, security, and happiness. More likely to be in healthy and stable family relationships. Better school performance and fewer behavioral problems in their children. Thus the benefits of family capital cannot be overstated. It benefits society from an economic standpoint as new businesses are created and it promotes the psychological, social, and economic welfare of families and their members. 20 W. G. Dyer Conclusion As mentioned in previous sections on family structure, families today are smaller and face more instability than almost any time in history. This does not bode well for the future of family entrepreneurship as well as the other benefits received by society and families as the result of family capital. Divorce rates are still 40–50% in most Western countries. Cohabitation has grown rapidly as have out-of-wedlock birth rates. Moreover, fewer people feel the need to be married and have children. Thus, the future of family capital from a societal standpoint is rather bleak in my opinion. However, I have seen individual families make a conscious effort to develop, maintain, and transfer family capital and have experienced its benefits. Thus, I’m optimistic that we can strengthen our own families so we can see the favorable impact of family capital in our families and in the lives of family members. In summary, the keys to building family capital are as follows: 1. Create a strong and stable partnership between spouses or significant others. Marriages typically last three to four times longer than cohabiting relationships, so marriage should be encouraged. Children who grow up in a stable family environment have the best outcomes and are more likely to develop family capital. Those couples with relationship problems should seek counseling. 2. Encourage a culture in the family that is based on trust, facilitates the growth of each family member, and supports positive change within the family. 3. Encourage family activities that create norms of reciprocity and support within a family. Thus, family mission statements, family traditions, and spending time together as a family are important. Creating a higher purpose for the family is also a way to strengthen family relationships. 4. Build trust within the family by repairing interpersonal trust when it is broken. Develop competence trust by encouraging family members to develop skills and abilities and create institutional trust within the family by sharing information and being transparent. 5. Transfer family capital by identifying where human, social, and financial capital and other assets reside within the family. Then create a succession plan to ensure that these forms of family capital are transferred to the next generation. Without such a plan, family capital can be lost forever. 2 Family Capital: The Key to Entrepreneurial and Family Success 21 While having a “strong family” that develops, maintains, and effectively transfers human, social, and financial capital is likely to be more difficult in the future, I have seen those families who have been able to do it reap significant rewards. References Blackwell, D. L. (2010). Family Structure and Children’s Health in the United States: Findings from the National Health Interview Survey 2001–2007. 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